


Warmed Hearts

by atg4ever, orphan_account



Series: DAH GAYS [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human/Troll Society, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-24
Updated: 2016-02-22
Packaged: 2018-02-10 06:38:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2014881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atg4ever/pseuds/atg4ever, https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>John Egbert is a boy who works at a coffee shop part time while he is in high School. He has to deal with a lot of stuff to survive and now on top of that he has to deal with a possible crush problem on a not so new troll.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first fic that I'm posting X.X so don't hate me...

Your name is John Egbert, you are 16 and work at a coffee shop after school. Today is supposed to be something special but you have forgot about what was so special about it.

 

Today seemed like any other first day of school, normal classes and all. Except you came into work today and noticed some of your friends are there (more than usual at least), sitting and talking in the tables and chairs in the shop. You begin to wonder what is happening. But then it hits you, karkat is coming home after his year and a half of moving with his lusus due to job shenanigans you never really understood about. 

"Oh John, don't tell me you forgot about karkles and the surprise welcome back party that YOU spent the past few weeks working on! That is CLASSIC!" The teal blooded troll girl who was sitting next to your best bro snickered as you tried to come up with some lame ass excuse for.

"Oh would you let the poor bro go already babe? He couldn't have forgot the 'most important day' of this month" Dave responded as he glanced over at you. You just shrug.

You go over to the counter and start taking the orders from everyone, you already know your friends enough that you just charge them for their drinks.

A large caramel frapuccino with whip cream for Dave and a medium sweet red dragon tea for Terezi, of course. a fresh brewed earl grey tea for rose and kanaya,  and a very complicated and not that great tasting drink order for Vriska, oh and one "righteous motherfucking cappuccino" for gamzee. You seem to be getting better at this whole coffee shop ordeal.

Dave was wearing his red hoodie with his record shirt underneath it. He always wore his shades that you gave him a long time ago. he was sitting in front of his.. uhh matesprit, thats the word, Terezi. She wore her red dragon hoodie, That she absolutely wore every single day along with her red glasses and her blue jeans.

Kanaya was wearing her nice red skirt with her green top with her symbol on it. most trolls wear those symbols on thier shirts and it was interesting but you really never cared too much about that. Rose was wearing very typical Rose Lalonde type clothing and all. 

You talk with everyone and make sure everyone was all on the same page with what was happening.

"Okay so Tavros is keeping out an eye for karkat and will alert us if he when he is coming and such. then you all hide under the tables and such and wait untill I say 'what do you want to order?'  to surprise him, okay?" everyone seems to get the plan and you then go on with your job by filling orders and such of other costumers that came in to the shop.

After half an hour you decide to start setting up for the party. You asked your boss if it was okay after a lot of begging and pleading. he said it was lucky that you are one of the best employees he has hired in a long time or else he wouldn't have accepted. You set up streamers with the help of Dave as Kanaya and rose both dealt with the banner that had a "Welcome home Karkat!!!" with all the signatures all over it with messages from all the attendees and some others of people who couldn't come. 

As soon as you finished the decorations and all, Tavros came in and spoke "Uh, hey guys nice decorations and stuff... Umm he's coming down the street..." Tavros was wearing blue jeans that were a bit too long for him as well as his favorite jacket that had millions of never used pockets. you smiled but then something started happening....

You instantly start to feel your heart pick up its pace, your mouth gets dry and you swallow hard, you're nervous. 

_Why am I nervous? Why should I be? pfft I'm not nervous! It's just been a whole year since I have seen Karkat and I'm a little excited is all..._

Everyone hides in various spots as you walk back to the register and try to act as normal as possible. And then you see Karkat walk through the door...


	2. Surprised Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> john and karkat have a wonderful meet up and party type thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yo sup? I really didn't like what I did in the first chapter so I'm trying a bit more... I also got a little help from zzzzzzzo (okay a lot of help)

Your name is John Egbert and you totally think your friend is hot.

 

You notice almost everything that is different about Karkat; you can tell he's Karkat because you just know he is, but, wow.

Karkat grew taller in more than a year; he's still shorter you but it's a smaller gap. His face isn't as childish anymore, and oh my god it's hot, you could melt just by looking at that face. Of course, you aren't gay or anything, you just happen to adore that hot face, that is still adorable somehow and that is perfect and...

_Stop it! Nooo, I don't want to think about this stuff; he's here and I'm seeing for the first time in person in a year and a half and oh my god I should say hi..._

You grin like a huge dork and wave your hand in the air towards the young troll who you missed so much.

"Karkat is that you? Oh my god! Hey!"

"John?" He pauses and stares at you for a couple of seconds after he turns his head towards you. "J-John?!" He makes a surprised face; not a really "it's good to meet you, old friend! " type face. More of a "what in the bloody fuck?!" type face.

"Uh, yeah, it's me Karkat....hehe what's up?" You smile and swallow a bit. You are super worried that he might figure out about the whole surprise part of the party.

"Well my ass hurts like fucking hell due to being stuck in a car for hours and then I have to come down to this stupid café because Vriska told me you were here after school... Wait, you work here?!" There's that face again.

"Yeah I do work here, I've bee-" You get cut off by him.

"Another fucking thing is you didn't need to put up all this shit for me if you don't plan on having a fucking party. Which by the way, it looks like one, but, you seem to not have anyone here or have invited anyone. Way to go dipshit!"

You snicker a bit at his commentary and decide to play it off. "Well you see, Karkat, I just wanted to make you feel welcome so I put all these up!" God, you realize how stupid this plan was now...

Karkat raises his eyebrows questioningly at you. God this plan was really dumb, you should have waited for Karkat to come to put up the decorations…

_Idiot! Oh god I'm dumb... just play it cool Egbert, he won't figure it out if you maintain eye contact and smile..._

You smile as much as you can while you walk past the counter (and over Dave and Terezi who were hiding behind said counter).

“Egbert, what the fuck are yo-” You cut karkat off with a big and emotional hug.

“God Karkat, I missed you so much!” You giggle lightly as he returns the hug and pats your back.

“Yeah yeah, whatever… Can you release me? Like now?” His voice cracked a bit as he held back his emotions. God karkat is such a sap sometimes.

You let go of Karkat and wipe a slight joyful tear from your eyes. You walk over to the cash register and get ready to surprise the living hell out of Karkat.

“John in all respect, I just want to get something to drink and then leave back to my hive.”

“Well, okay okay… What do you want to order?” You speak the key phrase rather loudly in order to make sure everyone who is hiding could hear you.

Within a second, Dave and Terezi pop up next to you while Kanaya, Rose, Vriska, and Tavros all pop up from their respective spots, all yelling “Surprise!”

“Scree!” Karkat screeches as he jumps up a bit from surprise. Everyone laughs in response.

“Surprise motherfucker!” Gamzee yells after a minute while jumping out of his hiding spot.

“Hehe, a bit late there Gamzee…” You chuckle a bit while Karkat seems to still be in shock.

“It’s never too late to surprise my best motherfucking moirail.” Gamzee remarks as he smiles and hugs Karkat.

Everyone then proceeds to group hug around Karkat as he starts to come back to reality.

“Fuck all of you dipshits! You can all go to hell! Stop fucking hugging me, you all suck fucking ass!” Karkat screams while he gets hugged more.

“Oh calm down Karkles, we all know you missed us!”

“Yeah yeah whatever… Can I please get my shitty drink now?” Karkat grumbles lightly as he starts to hug everybody back.

“Oh okay fine! What do you really want now?” You walk back to the counter and take Karkat’s order.

You listen to him make his order: one medium strawberries and cream frap with two shots of caffeine and extra whipped cream made with soy milk, vanilla flavored of course, with a caramel drizzle over the whipped cream. He seemed very specific on how sweet he wanted it, it almost makes you laugh. But, you make the order as best you can for him. His order somehow seemed very fitting for Karkat.

You give Karkat the drink and smile brightly as he takes a sip. He opens his eyes widely after his first sip. You start to get a bit nervous again.

“Uh, is anything wrong? Karkat?” You look at him warily.

“Holy fucking shit…. This is… not shitty, at all…. It’s actually pretty good!” Karkat makes a weird face that you think is meant to show satisfaction.

You sigh from relief and laugh a little as you look at Karkat with a large smile. Everyone else chuckles as they start to talk to Karkat and lead him to the tables where he talks about his experiences from going cross country and how “incredibly shitty” they were. Unfortunately you had to keep up with your shift for another 20 minutes until you can join the others.

You start to clean up the counters and the machines that you keep forgetting the names of. You look at the clock every once in a while and keep counting down the minutes you have left.

“Well, Karkles, as much I would love to hang around, Dave and I must take our leave and go to his hive!” Karkat nods but then raises his eyebrow a bit.

“W-wait, are you two...?” he points to Dave and Terezi and makes random hand motions. He is obviously confused.

“Oh yeah, Kitkat, we’re... uh... matesprits! That’s the word!” Dave snaps his fingers in a motion that ends with a pointing finger.

“When did that become a fucking thing?” Karkat questioned everyone.

You decide to be the one to respond to him since Rose was fast asleep with Kanaya on the little couch that the shop set up. “It was like a couple weeks after you left, Karkat.”

“Oh, well that’s good for you guys, I guess... You should probably get going then I guess…” He waves Dave and Terezi off.

Come to think of it, where did the other trolls go anyways? You look around for Gamzee and Tavros, they aren’t here… Oh wait, Gamzee left something on a table. You walk over to the table and roll your eyes. It’s the “:0)” symbol with a “GoT To gO BrO SoRrY, bYe,” and you would never guess what he wrote it in (hint: it’s the grape jelly that you now have to clean up). You chuckle a bit as you take care of the mess that the clown left.

You sit in front of Karkat and start to talk and do all the chummy catching up stuff that you can do with him.

“Really? Karkat I can’t believe you got to meet those actors in Hollywood! Did you see-”

“I fucking swear if you say Nic Cage, I’m going to flip a shit… and yes I did and he isn’t… that bad of a person, just a shitty actor nonetheless!” He smirks after he interrupts you.

“Wow Karkat, you seem to have gotten meaner but nicer in a year and a half…” You smile and giggle lightly.

_And hotter, nope stop those thoughts right now!_

He growls a bit, displaying the same crooked teeth you remember from before. Hehe, you’ve always thought that was sort of cute, not in a gay way, but a “aw, look at the little puppy who thinks he’s threatening, I just wanna smoosh his cheeks!” way.

In fact… why not actually smoosh his cheeks? Before you never dared to, because wow hello pointy teeth, but hey, after how long it’s been there’s no way he’ll actually harm you, right? He must have missed you too much to do something like that. Right.

You lean over the table, and before he can comment, place your palms on his cheeks. _Hehehe, they’re so squishy!_ You rub them a little, figuring that you might as well get all you can from this before Karkat remembers to react. But…

The thing is, Karkat remains still. For like, an awkwardly long time. You blink, grin fading to puzzlement. Shouldn’t he be yelling by now, profanity mixed into the ridiculous metaphors you’ve come to miss so much? He definitely should be, or at least, that’s normally what he would do. What’s going on? Why is he just… staring at you?

It takes a minute before you finally notice his expression in full. Eyes wide, not looking angry so much as… flustered. The cheeks you’re holding are red, and your own flush to match them as you realize how close leaning over the table brought your face to his. Leaning in and holding his cheeks, it probably looks like you’re going to, well, you know.

_Shit. Oops. Um, awkward._

“Oh, uh, hehe… sorry I’ll just… yeah.” You back away and let go of Karkat’s soft cheeks and return to the chair you were sitting in.

“I-it’s okay John…” Karkat seems to be more relaxed now that you have sat back down.

After a while you got up and woke up the girls and told them it was closing time. Rose and Kanaya both left after saying goodbye to you and Karkat, who didn’t leave with them.

_Weird… he never used to wait up for me…_

“Karkat you shouldn’t have waited up for me!” you chuckled a bit.

“No you couchfucker, if you forgot what I said in my message a long time ago… “ he sighs, “I live down the street from you now… remember?”

Your eyes widen as you remember that little part of the message.

“Oh crap! That’s great to hear, again! Hehe.”

“You are such an idiot.”

You lock the doors to the bilunar café and start walking with Karkat to your street. The full moon is out and there aren’t any clouds in the sky, so it is perfect for walking in the streets without bumping into anything, not that you have ever done that before… more than five times in a row at least…

“Okay, we are here!” you chirp after 30 minutes of walking.

“Yeah no shit, I’m not a fucking idiot, I know what our street looks like.”

“Uh yeah sorry, well, this must be your hive!”

“Yeah, well, bye Egbert.”

“Bye karkat!” You smile and wave as you sprint down the street to your house.

You enter your house and quietly get to bed. You can’t wait to start school tomorrow….

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DO YOU LOVE ME YET GUYS?.... guys?.....


	3. Tired Hearts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> john wakes up for second day of school...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is another crappy chapter and i know that i was planning on making it extra long.... but... i decided it was best

You open your eyes to see that you are back in the coffee shop…

“John, hello? John were you day dreaming again?” Rose spoke up as she and Kanaya stood outside the doorway.

“Oh, uh... heh yeah, I guess I was... Sorry Rose! See you tomorrow.” You wave the girls off.

“Don’t be too friendly with Karkat, John,” Rose says as she walks away from the shop.

You blink a few times in confusion.

_Whatever that means…_

You sit in front of Karkat and start to talk and do all the chummy catching up stuff that you can do with him.

“Really? Karkat I can’t believe you got to meet those actors in Hollywood! Did you see-”

“I fucking swear if you say Nic Cage, I’m going to flip a shit… and yes I did and he isn’t… that bad of a person, just a shitty actor nonetheless!” He smirks after he interrupts you.

“Wow Karkat, you seem to have gotten meaner but nicer in a year and a half…” You smile and giggle lightly.

_And hotter, nope stop those thoughts right now!_

He growls a bit, displaying the same crooked teeth you remember from before. Hehe, you’ve always thought that was sort of cute, not in a gay way, but a “aw, look at the little puppy who thinks he’s threatening, I just wanna smoosh his cheeks!” way.

In fact… why not actually smoosh his cheeks? Before you never dared to, because wow hello pointy teeth, but hey, after how long it’s been there’s no way he’ll actually harm you, right? He must have missed you too much to do something like that. Right.

You lean over the table, and before he can comment, place your palms on his cheeks. _Hehehe, they’re so squishy!_ You rub them a little, figuring that you might as well get all you can from this before Karkat remembers to react. But…

The thing is, Karkat remains still. For like, an awkwardly long time. You blink, grin fading to puzzlement. Shouldn’t he be yelling by now, profanity mixed into the ridiculous metaphors you’ve come to miss so much? He definitely should be, or at least, that’s normally what he would do. What’s going on? Why is he just… staring at you?

It takes a minute before you finally notice his expression in full. Eyes wide, not looking angry so much as… flustered. The cheeks you’re holding are red, and your own flush to match them as you realize how close leaning over the table brought your face to his. Leaning in and holding his cheeks, it probably looks like you’re going to, well, you know.

_Shit. Oops. Um, awkward._

“Oh, uh, hehe… sorry I’ll just… yeah.” You back away and let go of Karkat’s soft cheeks and return to the chair you were sitting in.

“I-it’s fucking okay, John” Karkat leans forward and lightly brushes his lips over yours.

“K-Karkat…” He makes a worried face as you look at him.

“Oh gog, I messed up didn’t I?”

You giggle before responding. “No, you didn’t.” You lean forward and kiss him.

This kiss is so amazing, his lips are soft and they fit perfectly with yours as he presses them to yours. electricity shoots through your body as the kiss goes on and you pull back to speak.

“K-Karkat… I-I....”

BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP

Your name is John Egbert, and you are totally kissing your pillow.

You face is fully blushed and you slobbered all over your pillow.

_Bluh, I did NOT just have a kissing dream with Karkat in it!_

The alarm is blaring as you put on your glasses. You shut off the alarm and get ready to take the shower. When you enter the shower you relax a bit and almost fall asleep as the hot water hits your skin.

_Oh my god, that’s soothing… Bluh, why did I even have a dream where I kissed Karkat?! I mean, I am not homosexual at all… I just happened to appreciate his company and all and that I missed him and I might just want to touch him more... Oh man, why did I think about it like that?! That’s not how I wanted to think about it…_ You blush furiously as you get a boner. _Nope this is not happening…_

You finish washing yourself and try to think of things that'll make your boner go away, which, worked fairly quickly as soon as you thought about Betty Crocker… You shut off the shower and step out as you dry yourself, soon taking some aspirin because god damn you have a headache from all that thinking and pondering. You get dressed in your red boxers, blue jeans, a ghostbusters t-shirt, and your blue hoodie accommodated with your red sneakers. You style your hair and brush your teeth thoroughly; you hate to have dirty teeth, after all.

“All clean! Hehe.”

You run downstairs and sit by the table. Your dad sets a plate on the table in front of you. He always makes the best breakfasts; he knows how much a healthy and energy packed breakfast is important for you since you are so busy working after school.

“Good morning, Son! How was the party that you made for your friend, ah, Karkit?”

“It’s Karkat Dad, don’t act like you don’t know him.” You chuckle a bit at your dad. Karkat used to always come to your house to hang out so your dad obviously knew him already!

“Ha, nothing can escape you, can it?” He pats your shoulder as he drinks his coffee.

“Anyways, it went down fine! I think Karkat enjoyed it a lot! Although it had to end because everybody has school and stuff.”

“Well, you should have waited until the weekend to put together the party.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it! The plan was extremely crappy from the start but that’s just because I really wanted to do something nice for Karkat!”

“Watch that tone and language Johnathan!” Dad warns with his stern voice and even sterner fatherly finger wave.

“Sorry!” you nervously apologize to the fatherly figure. You finish your plate without noticing. Talking with your father always makes time fly by.

“Apology accepted. Now, get ready for school. Go brush your teeth and what not.” He waves you off as he picks up the plate and kisses your forehead, patting your back afterward, of course.

You go back upstairs to brush your teeth again and pick up your backpack. You quickly run downstairs and stop at the front door.

“Bye Dad, I’m off to the bus! It’ll be here any second and I’m not gonna be late again!”

“Bye son! See you at dinner! Be here by then or else I’m pranking the living being out of your boss!”

You giggle. “Yeah, yeah, later!”

You run outside and down the street, getting close to Karkat’s hive. You see Karkat walking out his door and you decide to yell in his direction.

“Karkat! Hurry up, the bus is coming!” He looks at you and dashes across the lawns after he registers what you said.

“What the fuck?! Isn’t the bus supposed to come in a couple minutes?” he says as the bus pulls over at the stop.

“Well, it’s here now!” you giggle while you barely catch the bus with Karkat.

“You’re lucky I saw you kids!” snapped Jack, the bus driver. His voice was its always hoarse self. Jack (aka Spades) has been your bus driver for a very long time. He always wears a black fedora

“Oh shut the fuck up, Spades!” Karkat yells from behind you.

“Watch it kiddo, I am not one to mess around with.” Jack snarls at Karkat as you both head towards a bus chair.

You smile at Karkat when he sits down next to you. Wow, you are making so much progress in this relationshi-

Shut up nope nope nope not listening!

“God damn am I fucking happy caffeine exists.” Karkat says with a sigh.

You realize that you should probably have drank some coffee too because damn you are tired and just realized how tired you exactly are.

You yawn while you lean on Karkat a bit. Karkat looks at you and raises an eyebrow.

“ Fuck, are you okay Egbert?”

“Yeah, j-just really tired…”

Before you know it, Karkat takes his hand and pulls your head on his shoulder. You blush slightly and try to question him.

“Wh-wha-”

“John just shut up and take a nap. We have a while to get to school, okay?” Karkat blushes a tiny bit, his face always looked so cute whenever it flushes that bright candy red.

_Yeah it really does… I mean in a completely non homo way…_

“Just know that I’m not doing this because of anything special! It’s just to get even since you made my drink so fucking well last night,” Karkat said with a chuckle.

You mumble a bit as you nuzzle up to Karkat out of “instinct,” causing him to blush quite a bit.

_Oh god he’s so warm_ …. You smile at the warmth that seems to radiate off his shoulder alone….

“Thanks Karkat, it means a lot that you’re doing this.”

And then you fall asleep on Karkat’s shoulder...

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh god i hated writing this chapter...


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your name is John Egbert, and you are sleeping on the bus.
> 
> You wake up in a couple minute only to start talking to Karkat. Your eyes still had a bit of crust in them so you wipe them away and yawn. You sit up correctly and open your eyes, quickly directing them to Karkat. He was busy with reading his romcom book. He had his reading glasses on, you giggle lightly at the memory of how Karkat needed to use reading glasses at such a young age....

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys sorry for the long time with no updating! I was just busy with crap and shit so i decided to make a longish chapter to ease your johnkat pains! there is more character building here than anything! Some fluff here and there, but its good enough for me to kind of like it... i also made a little surprise for you guys near the end of the story...

Your name is John Egbert, and you are sleeping on the bus.

 

You wake up in a couple minutes only to start talking to Karkat. Your eyes still had a bit of crust in them so you wipe them away and yawn. You sit up correctly and open your eyes, quickly directing them to Karkat. He was busy with reading his romcom book. He had his reading glasses on, you giggle lightly at the memory of how Karkat needed to use reading glasses at such a young age. The reason for why was some long winded thing that you never really paid that much attention to. The book he was reading was a troll one, you can tell because the title is a ridiculously long one, and also the fact the people on the front were trolls (and they were all smooching each other).

“Hey Karkat, what’s with the glasses?”

He sighs and closes his book, after using his grey bookmark that he had since he was a wiggler, he turns his attention to you.

“Because Egbert, you seem to always forget that I wear these fucking things because trolls don’t have the best fucking vision, in fact, we have incredibly shitty vision when it comes to bright shit!”

“No silly, its just your glasses are different than the ones from last year!”

“Oh, well shit, sorry I didn’t think that crappy information was important to you. But if you must fucking know, when I was in New York, my glasses were broken because some douchenozzle decided to have no respect for my personal space and he ran right fucking into me, my glasses fell onto the stupid concrete and shattered. Crabdad had to take me to this eye doctor and got me new glasses, they look fucking shitty but they get the job done.” He went on this mini rant for a bit. You paid close attention to every single words he said. _Man I love that voice, wait, I meant that in a totally non-romantic type way_. You smiled at him when he had finished talking about how he got his new glasses and such. You start  

“heh, I think they look great on you! it makes you seem very cute, kinda like a librarian!” You smile your genuine John Egbert dork smile.

“Uh what the fuck did you just say?” He froze and looked at you while a bright red blush started to dust over his face.

You try to think about what you just said… _Oh my god… I didnt mean to…_ You blush a bit and hesitate to speak.

“Oh no! I-I didn’t… mean it like that Karkat its just they look really good is all! Its just a compliment, not meant to be anything like, w-well you know!” You crack a nervous smile as you rub the back of your neck sheepishly. You could feel your heart picking up its pace as your face heats up slowly like a hot plate that is warming up. You swallow nervously as you look at Karkat, who’s staring at you. His face still had that bright red flush over it, _Fuck, I messed up again, bluh why can’t I act normal around Karkat?_!

Karkat then closes his eyes and lets out a sigh, “Whatever Egbert just, stop it with the compliments, you’re making a bigger fool out of yourself than you already were, dipshit.”  You sigh of relief, still blushing lightlly, and you look around, remembering someone isn’t here.

“So why isn’t Kankri on the bus? Isn’t he supposed to be here and crap?”

“Oh, well his fucking matesprit picked him up, he denies Cronus being his matesprit, but I call bullshit on that!”

“hehe, I didn’t know Cronus could drive!”

“He names his stupid fucking car ‘grease lightning’ like the fucking jackass he is!”

You started to laugh a bit, okay you actually laugh a lot. “Are you serious?! Hahahaha!”

“Yeah I'm fucking serious and its fucking annoying!”

Terezi pops up from the seat behind you and Karkat and grabs his book.

“Oh Karkat, what are you reading now?”

“what the everloving fuck?! It’s a book called ‘None of your shitflying business!’” Karkat flails a bit as he tries to grab the book back.

She then gives the front cover a big, long, and wet lick, you laugh as Karkat keeps whining and yelling like the fussy grump he is as Terezi makes her wicked, and kind of creepy, grin.

“Karkat, I heard this one is a good read! It tastes good too! Congrats, your taste in romcoms has increased to a level of one that doesn’t make me barf!” She snickers slightly as she pushes Karkat down with her cane. “And calm down Karkat! all I’m doing is inspecting the material in question. Is that so bad?” She offers the book to Karkat, waving it above his head.

“Whatever” Karkat huffs out as he snatches the book from Terezi’s hand and growls a bit as he wipes the saliva from the cover.

“Hahaha Karkat, calm down!  Terezi is always doing that licking thing, you should know that better than me!’”

“Yeah, whatever I just don’t fucking like saliva on my books! Thank you!”

“you’re very much welcome!” Both you and Terezi say at the same time. You both high-five because of how awesome and funny that was. Karkat just stares at the both of you with a confused and annoyed facial expression.

“What the fuck is happening?”

“Please Karkat, you must know that when something awesome happens between friends, they must either do a high five or a fist bump!”

“Yeah I know that but I mean why are you and john acting like you guys are on some shitty singular brain wave frequency?”

“Because that’s what happens when I’m on a bus with some freaky glasses kid who always wears that blueberry hoodie! Its actually a nice scent, if it wasn’t mucked up by idiotic human adolescent smell!”

“Oh you know everyone loves the eau du Egbert! Hehe” You smile and giggle a bit. Karkat gives you this typical scoff and rolls his eyes. Terezi does that fucking creepy ass grin as usual, but in all seriousness you have grown quite used to it.

_Still fucking creepy..._

“John seriously, I would be surprised if anyone even fucking likes that horrid human stench! It me took forever to get used to it. even right now I’m fighting the urge to dump perfume on you!”

“Terezi can you please just fucking stop annoying him! His stench isn’t that bad, its just deodorant and some weird fucking human cologne. its not that fucking bad, even though you should stop putting a shitload of that on, John.”

You and Terezi just kind of stare blankly at him for a good while, you decide to make it less awkward smiling at him since Karkat gave you a semi compliment.

“... What? Did I say something bad or some shit?” Karkat raises an eyebrow at you and looks totally lost.

“Pfft no Karkat, it’s just, you just kinda complimented how I smell and all” Terezi smiles widely and snickers. You just blush a tiny bit as your cheeks begin to heat up. @@Wait why am i blushing? Its just a freaking compliment! Stop that bluh!@@ Karkat’s face also seemed to begin to tint that  beautiful bright shade of red. Terezi, of course, happens to just snicker and quirk her eyebrows.

“hehe, you guys are starting to smell like cherries and strawberries, do I smell a blush? Or is it blushes? Hehehe!”

“Shut the fuck up terezi it isn’t like that! I can give out fucking compliments to whom I please!”

“Then what is it like Karkles? Do you have some unrequited feelings for the human who is sitting next to you?”

You and Karkat just keep quiet for a bit. _Wow this is awkward…_  You decide to laugh a bit at that commentary. Yours and karkat’s faces start to blush up again. You have no idea why Karkat was blushing, but you just guess it’s out of embarrassment too and anger. You brush off that little observation because you realize Karkat blushes at a lot of things.

“Hahahaha very funny Terezi!”

“Pfft as if I would have romantic feelings of any sort for this human! John is a friend, an annoying shithead of one, but a friend none the fucking less!”

“Wow Karkles you’ve become nicer in half a sweep!”

“Oh fucking grow up Terezi!”

“Guys calm down, we’re almost at school!”

“Yeah shut the fuck up back there! You guys are louder than the freaking radio! I’m trying to listen to my fucking music and drive but you kids keep shouting back there! I swear I didn’t sign up for caretaking zoo animals!” The scratchy and kind of croaky voice of Spades rose from the front of the bus.

“Sorry Spades” You, Terezi and Karkat say, along with other kids who were on the bus. but, of course Karkat mumbles a “Fuck you dipshit...” afterwards.

The bus pulls over in front of the school and Spades yells at everyone to get off. “Get your sorry asses off my bus already you adolescent bastards!” He opened the door and waved people off as they walked past him.

A bunch of kids are scared of Spades, but everybody smiles and gives Him a handshake or a wave of the hand; and after you step off Karkat follows and flips Spades off. Spades closes the door on Karkats face and chuckles a bit. You turn around and wait for Karkat, giggling a bunch

“Sorry kid, pressed the one wrong button”

“... Ow” The door opens and Karkat rubs his nose a bit.

“Hehe you okay there Karkat?”

“Yeah yeah, whatever. I don’t fucking care if Spades is out to get me or shit.”

Terezi runs over to tackle Dave as he exits his bro’s car after it pulled over. You and Karkat head over to homeroom quickly. You both walk through the halls and reach room 413, aka, your homeroom. Your regular homeroom teacher wasn’t who was standing there, but you just shrug it off anyways. The new teacher is this nice, small white lady, she wore a colorful bandana around her orange hair. You say hi to the new teacher after she greets you and Karkat. Her voice was soft and nice, she seemed like the type of person that just loves to smile. She also had the air of happiness around her that just seemed to make you relax, it was almost motherly. All your classmates sit down in chairs across the room and you make sure to pick the spot that was absolutely perfect. You dragged Karkat to the back corner of the room. The chairs and desks were aligned so they face the front whiteboard. When you sit you look at Karkat, who was probably busy scanning the room for people he might hate (hence why he was just standing there). “Hey Karkat come sit here in front of me!” He grunts and sighs while he walks to the open seat in front of you. When Karkat sits down he was starting to turn around and began saying something, “There are you fucking happ-”  the new teacher interrupts him.

“Ahem, excuse me children! Hello there, I am your new homeroom teacher. Call me Ms. Paint, everyone.”

The whole class groans a “Hello Ms. Paint” While you smile and say it more spritely.

“Okay, So Doctor Scratch is no longer your homeroom teacher because he is your new principle! But anyway, now to attendance. I will call out your names three times as best I can and you can just correct me if i say your name wrong, or if you want to be called by a nickname, but only after you say say ‘present’ or ‘here’.”

She goes off saying the names of all the people you really don’t care about. You talk to Karkat as he faces you.

“So how does it feel to be back in your old hive again Karkat?”

“It feels fucking amazing to be able to sleep in my own coon again! Oh god that was the best fucking sleep I had in such a long fucking time!” Karkat gives you a soft smile.

you can’t help but smile at that. You always loved to hear Karkat talk about anything, you never notice why but his words just always seem to captivate you, no matter how profane his language gets. You laugh at yourself thinking about how you treat his voice like morgan freeman’s voice is treated by almost everyone. You snap back into reality before you think too much about crap you shouldn’t be thinking about.   

“Yeah it must be nice to be able to be home again!”

“Geez you fucking think? I didn’t freaking enjoy moving around the idiotic country just for fucking laughs Egbert! You know I had to because of Crabdad’s stupid job, thank fucking gog he is not taking me along on those trips anymore!” You giggle a bit at karkat’s whole defensive rant.

“Heh, calm down Karkat! I’m happy that you are back home! Now I have someone to talk to who isn’t always macking on his matesprit or whatever!”

Karkat chuckles a tiny bit under his breath, you catch that little moment.  _Hehe that’s so fucking cute, wait NO I didn’t mean cute I mean… uhh… cool yeah thats so fucking cool._  Karkat smacks your shoulder rather roughly.

“Ow, hey what was that for?” You rub your arm slightly, feeling the sting of the smack.

“Sorry, but the teacher is calling you dipshit” He points to the teacher and you focus your attention on her.

“Last call for John Egbert?” she says while looking around the classroom.

You raise your hand up high and smile sheepishly “Here! sorry I got distracted!” Ms. Paint turns her attention towards you and nods. You let your hand go down and rest on the desk in relief.

“Its alright John, just promise to pay attention next time.”

“Yes Ms. Paint.” You smile and turn your attention to Karkat again.  “So Karkat, what classes do you have today?” You pull out your schedule and show it to Karkat. He blinks a bit and facepalms. You laugh a bit and look at Karkat’s schedule after he pulls it out from his backpack and shows it to you.  You just analyze it and think about why Karkat is facepalming… _Let’s see… He has Advanced Algebra 1 for block 3… Wait, thats what I have! Oh my god!_

“We have the same math class!! Hahaha!” you scan his schedule again after giving yours a good look. “Oh, and we have a last block free time together every other day!”

“Ugh I fucking hope that you don’t annoy me all the fucking time”

“Hehe, I’ll try not to be such an **unbearable nuisance**!"

Karkat sighs as he says “fine, it won’t be shitty having someone I know with me during my opens.”

“Oh come on Karkat! You know we are like best bros!”

“Yeah yeah…” You grin widely at this response and stand up so you can walk up and hug Karkat. His body was surprisingly warm, but then again when you think about how he always wears that sweater, it just makes sense. Karkat begrudgingly returns the hug before he quickly pushes you off. You giggle a bit on how quickly he ends hugs, although you never knew why, you just assumed that he didn’t like hugging you for too long.

The bell rings and everyone starts getting up, you get up and wave a goodbye to Karkat.

“Well, I’ll see you third block then! I have to get going, or else I’ll be late for science!” You smile softly at Karkat and he crosses his arms and lets out a scoff.

“Whatever, Egbert just, go before you get in fucking trouble!” Karkat gives you a soft smile before waving you off. You smile back and dash quickly through the crowds of students and teachers. You don’t know why but you just loved to run and feel the airflow around you, sometimes it feels like the wind pushes you forward while you run, almost like it wants to pick you up. The air lightly hits your face as you run through the almost empty halls. You feel the air push lightly on your sides, like it just knows where you are gonna turn. This school might be confusing, but it isn’t a regular school since it has many parts to it. The school was parted into three different building districts (all practically the size of a freaking village). To simply put it, there were the east, central, and west schools that were the elementary, middle, and highschool of the town, at least the most common ones that kids enrolled in. All three schools were made fairly close to each other for some weird reason. Each school campus was made in a similar way to the rest and was fairly easy to navigate through if you just stick to the patterns of the school. Running down these halls were pretty easy to you since the other schools were practically made the same way, so, being a sophomore wasn’t the only reason why you can navigate through the halls easily. All you need is a room number, and then you can navigate through the halls and the rest of the campus without thinking. You quickly sit in your seat and catch your breath.

“Sorry i’m la-” You look around quickly to see that the teacher was not even ready to close the door. B _ut I swear that the bell was gonna ring in any second…_  The teacher looks at you and chuckles a bit before responding.

“You are not late, son. You still have a good...” He looks at his watch and then to the clock of the room. “Two and a half minutes left until the second bell rings!”

You let out a breath of relief and blink a bit.  _Wow I must have ran pretty fast in order for that to happen!_

The bell rings after some more of your classmates come into the room. You look at every student who walks in because you were hoping that someone you recognize could be in your class. Then again you don’t always expect there to be a friend in all of your classes. One troll decided to sit on the table you were on but you just exchanged smiles, so other than him, there was nobody sitting next to you. After the bell rings the teacher walks up to the door and starts closing it. You hear someone running down the hall, towards the classroom. The student pushes their foot through the small door opening right before the teacher fully closes it. The teacher opens the door again and you look at the student. You sigh of relief minorly as excitement flows over when you recognize the red hoodie and the aviators and that strider hair. You smile and wave towards Dave.

“Dave?! Hey sit over here!”

“Young man you are late! don’t be making a habit out of it, okay? I don’t want my boss breathing down my neck because of you.” The teacher sternly said towards dave as he walked towards you.

“Yes sir. Sorry about that, I promise that it won’t happen again.” Dave smirks and waves slightly at you as he sat between you and the troll.

“Good, now class I have to prepare todays lesson and such so I am gonna give you five minutes to keep your voices low and talk to whomever you like.”  You and Dave smile at each other and start to talk.

“So what brings you to my class man? Weren’t you gonna be in like advanced biology or whatever?”

“Nah man, those idiots were making too much work for this Strider! I might be smart, but I’m not a fucking genius when it comes to science.” He chuckles a bit before continuing, “But to be completely serious, the teacher was such an A-hole and I don’t deal with that easily.”

“Heh, I understand Dave. Evil teachers are evil teachers no matter what.” He smiles at your remark and nods, you decide to change the subject for conversation’s sake,  “So what’s up with you and Terezi?” You look at Dave with a grin.

“Oh, well everything is fine actually. We got to watch a movie last night at my place before she had to leave to her hive.”

“Oh, thats good! Me and Karkat just talked a bunch after you guys left! It was pretty fun to catch up with Karkat with everything!” You smile towards the troll who just looked at you sheepishly for a bit and turned your attention back to Dave.

“So… You got a thing for Karkat huh?” Dave quirks an eyebrow and smirks.

You blush lightly and shake your head. “D-Dave you know I’m not like that!” You gulp a bit at your word choice.

“Like what exactly?”

“I-I’m not gay Dave, you know that…” You whisper to him, afraid that the troll boy next to dave might be listening in on the conversation.

“You sure you know that man? I mean I respect your shit and everything, but, still man. You of all people should know what you think about the guy!”

“Shut it Strider, before I decide to prank you.” You glare at him with an evil grin. Dave backed off immediately and you giggle, “Sorry its just, can we not talk about this in class?”

“Sure man, I get it.” He nods and smiles understandingly.

You smile as the teacher passes out some worksheets and starts talking again, “Okay class we have these worksheets to fill out for today’s class! My name is Mr. B and don’t ask what my full name is. okay?” Everyone just complies with Mr. B. The class went forward from that point.

\---------------------------------------------------

**A few blocks later…**

\---------------------------------------------------

You wander around for a bit, looking through the halls and Student Center for Karkat until you just can’t find him. There are crowds of people that you don’t know or don’t care about and you seem to recognize some classmates from years before. You wonder where Karkat is since you showed him your schedule, he should be waiting for you outside of class or meet you somewhere that you guys could at least see each other. You open up pesterchum and decide to pester Karkat.

ectoBiologist [EB]  began pestering carcinoGeneticist [CG]

[EB]: Hey, Karkat! Where are you?

[CG]: WHERE THE FUCK DO YOU THINK I AM? THAT MEANS THE STUPID SPOT THAT DAVE TOLD ME YOU DIPSHIT.

[EB]: Oh heh I forgot about Dave’s “place”!

[CG]: YEAH HE SHOWED ME THIS WRETCHED HIDING LOCATION YOU GUYS HAVE CHOSEN TO CLAIM AS YOUR OWN PERSONAL “MESS SHIT UP” PLACE.

[EB]: Hehe 

[EB]: That’s right! But don’t worry! I’ll be right there! :B

[EB]: Shame though, I wanted to show you the secret lair!

[CG]: JUST GET YOUR PATHETIC HUMAN ASS HERE BEFORE I DECIDE TO JUMP OUT OF THIS SHITTY PLACE.

[EB]: I’m on my way Karkat, calm down!

EB ceased pestering CG

You giggle a bit at how quickly karkat wants you to go to the roof, or rather be “Dave’s place”. You run as fast as you can up the stairs, careful enough not to trip of course, cause Dave always warns you about those stairs. You run up each step quickly, making very little noise as the air starts to push you up the stairs just a bit. After a bit, you notice that you are skipping a good 4 steps per every step you take. The air slows down and stop as you reach the top. You take out your special key for the roof and unlock the door. When you open the door, the light from outside practically hits you right in the face. You relax after you get the feeling of sunlight on your face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whoo! hope you guys enjoyed this whole chapter because writing and editing this was such a pain! but it was fun doing the little things! I also worked on HTML crap for pesterlogs cause I Iove you guys...


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> dorks being dorks and other shenanigans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry for updating late guys! i got caught up in college applications and crap! but here have a semi long chapter??

You open the door to the roof and walk towards Karkat. you smile as soon as you see your friend, and he looks at you and rolls his eyes. Karkat was sitting on the chair you left up here to lounge in whenever you can. You look over him again because you felt like something was wrong. you scan him a bit and get the sense something is different from a couple of hours ago. Then you see it. Karkat has a big bruise on his left cheek, a bright red bump that has black coloration to it. For some odd reason you get filled with a bunch of random inexplicable emotions, and you try to think clearly and act calm.

“OH MY GOD KARKAT ARE YOU OKAY?!” you yell as you run up to him frantically. you drop your bookbag to the floor and quickly investigate his bruise _…_

_Okay, not exactly a calm way to ask that…_  

Karkat seems to blush as he looks to the side and just mumbles. “Calm the fuck down you slithering douchenozzle! Ahem, some shithead hit me with the soccer ball in gym class...” His face is warm and the skin is soft and squishy, you couldn’t help but giggle at this. You snap back into reality and something just kind of flips a switch that you never really expected to turn on inside you... It was protective and very defensive. You quickly give Karkat a stern look and furrow your brows.

"Who did it?" You say in a stern voice that kind of reminds you of your dad. 

_Bluh, I don't like sounding like my dad!_

 "John..." Karkat blinks and blushes a tiny bit. You can tell that he is from the way his face heated up under your hands. You raise your eyebrow in question and open your mouth to say something. Karkat resumes talking before you can speak.

"... You shouldn't fucking worry, okay? It was an accident, if it wasn't he would be wishing for death... Can you release my fucking face now? Or are you going to continue with this embarrassing display of unwarranted shitty face molestation?"

_Oh yeah... He doesn't like the whole face touchy thing... Whatever! I'm already doing it! I'm sure he doesn't mind... Then again he could totally kill me if I go on..._ You decide to let Karkat’s squishy, and kinda red, cheeks go but you keep a semi stern glare on him.

“Karkat, you will tell someone like me or Dave if anyone is giving you a hard time, right?” You stare Karkat dead in the eyes as he looks at you weirdly. You keep wondering why he keeps giving you this look. You decide to shrug it off because you want to remain focused on the topic at hand.

Karkat responds, "Yeah, I know that you both imbeciles care about me for some odd fucking reason!"

You furrow your brows and flick Karkat's nose. "It's because we care for our friends, and that means you, Karkat!" Karkat stares right at you with a tiny blush forming after he begrudgingly rubs his nose. You soften your expression more and smile as wide as you can, baring your buck teeth at the, not so small but still shorter than you, troll in front of you.

_Hehe, He's blushing again! He still isn't used to the whole "friends caring about each other mutually" thing is he?_  You punch Karkat lightly on the shoulder and smile at him. He looks at you and sneers a bit before responding.

"Thanks, I guess... Ugh, fuck this, I'm just gonna sit down." He rubs his shoulder and looks to the side before sitting down on the cement floor of the roof. You decide to join him by sitting next to him. Karkat sighs and leaned back against the railing and you can’t help but just adore and observe every little physical difference that Karkat has since before he left with his lusus a long while ago while you sit down next to him. Karkat's hair is styled the same exact type of way, (which was not styled at all) except his hair seems to be a bit longer than from what he had it before. You guess that he is going to cut it soon, so whatever. His face is definitely less rounded than it used to be. You see how smooth and defined his skin was, loving the small freckles that were placed gingerly on his upper cheeks.

_WOAH... Okay let's stop this before it gets awkward... Shit, wait, he was saying something, wasn't he?_

 "... Egbert? Are you fucking listening to me with those pathetic hearing orifices that you call 'ears'?! Or are you too busy daydreaming about some random asanine, shitfilled subject?" You snap back into reality and shake your head at the unamused troll.

"No! I heard you Karkat!" Oh god you are a terrible liar.

"Then what did I say to you before?" He turns a bit towards you with a questioning look, a bit pissed and grumpy.

"... 'Gee John! You sure are the smartest person I know!’" You smile and fight back a chuckle as Karkat shakes his head.

"I'm sorry to be the be the bearer of bad news, John, but you're a fucking idiot."

You fake a gasp and bring your hands up to the sides of your face, responding in a sarcastic tone."Oh no! Is there any cure for that?!"

Karkat sneers at you, flashing his fangs slightly as he flips you off. "There is only one cure and that's fucking off!"

You burst out laughing and nudge Karkat's shoulder after a bit. "Relax Karkat! I'm just pulling your leg! Hehe." You the wrap an arm around Karkat and shake him from side to side slightly, smiling at him. Karkat blushes lightly and lets his hand fall to his lap. He tenses up from your arm being around him, but then just huffs as he crosses his arms and growls a bit.

"You're a fucking douchenozzle you know that?"

"Hehe, love you too buddy!" You then internally scream, growing a bit flustered as you frantically think of a way to rephrase that. "...I mean that in a total bro way! Hehe." Yes, the smiling nervously after that makes this all seem very smooth. You feel like if you speak anymore about this, you would probably end up making it extremely awkward. It's a shame that Karkat doesn’t really care about what you said, making the extra comment you added on weird.

"Okay then, well, I was talking about how much I fucking hate Slick and his smug ass!”

“Pfft, should you really be talking about Slick’s smug ass?” You grin and laugh at your own joke.

Karkat just looks at you and makes a face of disgust. “Gross, Egbert, don’t even try to pass that as one of your thoughtless jokes!” You put your hand on your chest and smile thoughtfully.

“Why, thank you Karkat! That means so much to know how much you love my jokes.” Karkat rolls his eyes and scoffs at your actions, making you snicker a bit. You open your eyes and see the troll looking at you with the **face**. The type of face he always tries to hide whenever he wants to say something but doesn’t really know how to say it without going off on a long and boring tangent. You tilt your head to the side and raise your eyebrows at him.

“Okay, what is it this time?”

“What the fuck are you talking about John? I have nothing to discuss with you at this moment,” he snaps at you, soon softening his expression a bit. _Okay… thats weird._  You cross your arms and raise an eyebrow at him.

“Come on, Nubby McCrabbypants, what is it?” Karkat looks down and sighs, running his fingers through his thick, messy hair.

“... It’s just some stupid shit that I probably shouldn’t be caring about, okay?”

“Just spit it out if it’s not important, Karkat!” “It’s about Dave and Terezi! Okay?!” You blink a bit in surprise, tilting your head more. _What is he talking about?_

_Are they bothering him or something?_

“What about them?” Karkat scoffs and rolls his eyes at you, now getting a bit pissed.

“I… might be… just a little... “ He mumbles the rest under his breath at an inaudible volume.

“What? You might be a little what? Crabby?” You smile gently; bringing a bit of humor can alway help lighten a situation.

“Fuck you, no. I said I might be a little fucking jealous you incoherent prick!” Or not… _Oh… thats…_ “Oh…” You deadpan at Karkat for a bit before you decide to speak up again.

“W-well, you can-”

“I’M ALREADY TRYING TO GET OVER IT EGBERT, IT’S ONLY BEEN NOT EVEN HALF A FUCKING WEEK AND I JUST LEARNED THAT THEY WERE MATESPRITS! IT’S… It’s just that I really thought I had a chance with her…” He facepalms and lets his hands stay on his face. Okay yeah, now you have a real problem with this situation, although you can’t really figure out why. You start patting Karkat’s back gently and look around awkwardly.

_Crap, crap…. Okay what do I do? What am I supposed to do? Think, John, think!_

 Karkat leans into your arms a bit and you blush slightly. Karkat shakes his head and flushes deeply, shoving you away from him.

“NO! J-John, listen..” You blink in surprise but nod at him, fully confused.

“O-okay?”

“I’m moirails with Gamzee and I pity that fucking bastard and won’t fucking cheat on him. I’m sorry but you have to stop with these pale advances, for fuck’s sake!” Karkat’s blushing as he looks at you, a bit of sadness in his eyes.

“Wh-wha-”

“John, listen, I think I have those same type of feelings for you too, but, I already have a moirail, so you can’t just fucking try to take me away from Gamzee. You are a really good friend and all but I don’t think you can take dealing with a pissed off clownfuck.”

“K-Karkat! I dont think you get that I’m just being friendly with you! You’re not right about how I feel about you!” Karkat shakes his head at you.

“You can keep telling yourself that shit John, just relax okay? This happens a lot but it just means I can trust you enough to fucking talk to you about this crap.” Now you are super confused… you have only a little idea about the quadrant system and all that troll stuff but you scan through what you know. You just groan and rolls your eyes at Karkat.

“Karkaaaat! Calm down and just explain what’s happening! You’re really annoying me about this!” He groans a bit. "Okay John, you have to realize we just fucking had a really pale moment." 

_Okay, I know this! Pale is the diamond looking one, right?_  Oh... OH... Now you understand what's happening.

"N-no Karkat! It's perfectly fine! I'm not trying to do anything like that! You and Gamzee are still the moirail thingy right?"

"Yes, I believe we are still moirails, John." "Okay, and I completely respect that and don't want to take that thing away from you two!"

"..." Karkat processes this for a moment and then nods. "Okay, thanks John. But listen the fuck up for a bit! I'm saying that I want you to be a stand in if Gamzee isn't really available to do his duties as a moirail. I still feel pale for him but I just need you to be my stand in, like some type of, fucking... Uh"

"Like a substitute teacher?" "Yeah, like that." You nod and smile, you thought that maybe this wasn't all that bad of a mess to get into. Just look at how much you always want to make sure that Karkat is safe and kept in a sane state of mind... "So what I'm getting is that you want me to help you whenever you need it, and don't have it available from the person you usually go to?"

"Yes, that's the fucking point that I have been trying to explain to you! I think I feel somewhat pale for you, Egbert." You smile widely but somehow feel a bit disappointed at the same time. You decide to ignore the little feeling you get from Karkat's words. You wonder why that you feel disheartened; you like the fact that Karkat feels this way towards you!

"You should probably get that." Karkat points at your phone which has been going off repeatedly for a while apparently.

turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering ectobiologist [EB]

[TG]: yo john where the fuck are you?

[TG]: are you on the roof?

[TG]: dude if you are can you open the damn door for me? i gave karkles my keys and i need to go up there.

[TG]: john

[TG]: hey

[TG]: look at the damn phone egbert

[TG]: god fucking damnit John you cant leave a bro hanging like this man not cool

[EB]: why didn't you knock on the door?

[TG]: ...

[TG]: dont fucking patronize me man

[EB]: heh yoJDJFNEOSJWNCJ YOU'RE A FUCKING IDIOT STRIDER

[TG]: glad to see that karkles is there with you open the fucking damndoor already.

turntechGodhead [TG] ceased pestering  ectoBiologist [EB]

\---------------------------

You struggle to get your phone back from the troll before you open the door and smile at Dave, who just nods and smirks a bit.

"Hey Dave! Haven't heard from you in forever!"

"Yeah it's just been such a long time since I've met you dude, I'm about to fucking cry my eyeballs out with this shitty reunion." Karkat groans, and then growls a tiny bit at you guys.

"Oh my fucking gog, will you two stop being absolute shitheads?!" 

"Hmm... nope!"

"Nah."

Karkat facepalms and sighs. "Of course you're not."

You giggle and pat karkat's back a bit, laughing.

"Oh relax Karkat! It's not like you hate us!"

"Yeah Karkles, we all know that you just can't get enough of Egbert and Strider booty." Dave smirks and chuckles. Karkat blushes and glares at you and Dave.

"Fuck the both of you," Karkat grumbled as he flipped the two of you off.

"Oh Karkles, the both of us? Hmm, kinky!" You and Karkat blush, you giggling while the troll glares furiously at Dave.

“Oh relax Karkat! You can always have a taste of both of us!” You wink at Karkat and laugh.

“No way man, TZ has right to this booty on the weekends and after school.” Karkat scoffs and shakes his head.

“What are you talking about Strider? You have as much ass as a sponge, and not even a fucking big one either.”

“Oh I’m hurt Vantas, but it is true! My ass is small and firm while you have to be blessed with such a voluptuous ass such as yours.” Karkat blushes even deeper and looks at you, Dave follows suit. You just laughed while you watched what went down. You look at them after you calm down a bit and raise your eyebrows. They were both staring at you.

“Uh… what?”

“Oh come on bro, we all know you have the finest booty of the land.”

You aren’t blushing at all, what? No, Pfft.... Okay you are actually blushing a little bit. You scoff and respond to Dave with a slight stutter.

"S-stop that Dave! And don't look at me like that Karkat!!" Karkat flushes and looks away quickly. Dave raises his eyebrows at the both of you and chuckles. You couldn't help but get a bit curious from that.

"What's so funny Dave?"

"Oh nothing man, just know we're talking later." Before you could respond to that Karkat groans in disgust.

"I can't believe that you two fuckwads can waste so much time talking about ass! You two are the most complete moronic douchebags I know that happen to have an infatuation with other male's asses" You purse your lips and try to speak.

"Hey! I'm no-mmfff!!" Dave put his hand on your mouth and muffled you as he spoke.

"Yeah yeah, you're not gay and shit, we get it dude. Just calm your fucking balls before they explode or some shit." You huff and lick Dave's hand, causing him to shudder but not pull away.

"John, just nod when you are completely calm" you huff and nod slowly, looking at Karkat, who was just shaking his head at you.

"I don't believe you yet." You groan and try to glare at him. You look at Karkat with your puppy eyes look, hoping you could still pull it off.

Evidently, it does indeed work this time. Karkat rolls his eyes and removes Dave’s hand from your face.

"Come on Strider, let him the fuck go already."

Dave shrugs and releases. You sigh and smile widely at Karkat.

_Heh, Karkat is very helpful!_  

The bell rings and school is officially over. You smile at Karkat. “I have to go to work soon, so I’ll see you later?”Karkat gives you a look.

“What?”

“Uh, what did I say?”

“You’re just gonna say goodbye like that?”

“Yeah, I have work and you probably have homework to do.” You shrug at the smaller troll as Dave simply watched the conversation between you and Karkat.

“What if I want to grab a cup of coffee before I go home, huh?” Karkat crosses his arms and glares at you.

_So cute…._  You smile and giggle a little at the troll. Dave shakes his head and sighs.

“Just bring Karkles to work already bro, this is embarrassing.” He then walks down the stairwell and you grab your things.

_I wonder what that was about?_  

You watch Karkat grab his stuff and take his hand as you start walking to the stairs. Karkat’s gaze falls to your hands, his face tinting a slight candy red. You don’t notice this expression as you dragged him down the stairs.

You have a feeling this will be a really great work day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> edited by the wonderful zzzzzzzo. i will try to update faster


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> John goes to work and Karkat tags a long for the hell of it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! its been like almost a year since I last updated and thats because of hectic life and me losing the original plot structure outline thingy I had for this fic Originally. Im sorry for making whoever even is interested in reading this wait for so long for the update in it.

====>John: be Karkat.

How the fuck can that bucktoothed dipshit eating worm be you? Your name is Karkat fucking Vantas, and you are currently being dragged by a pompous and incredibly dorky idiot to get some coffee.

Now, you wouldn’t normally mind being dragged to this café since one of your best friends and old hate crush is the one that serves you the coffee. You did agree to go with him in the first place but still. It’s just the fucking fact that this douche is currently grabbing your hand like a motherfucking clamp sealing unit.

You honestly wouldn’t mind this either if it wasn’t for the fact that John egbert was this person that was recently described.  
You are so not blushing because of the hand holding, which is more like your hand is being squeezed, but because of just how utterly embarrassing this is. It’s not like you are already dealing with the trouble with how hot John became in the past sweep. Even though you thought he was being pale with you, he has stated that he’s not after your pale quadrant. That role is currently filled with a certain juggalo troll who is doing a fantastically mediocre job as a moirail.  
You think to stop that right fucking now. He’s not hot, you mean John is kinda attractive… but not in that way You guess? He does have nice eyes but whatever. He also has pretty well toned features and a nice tanned look on his ski-stop that thought process right now vantas, you’re going down a dangerous path.

You blush at your thoughts as John stops and smiles at you. That stupid bucktoothed smile shines so fucking bright sometimes that you think it could blind you. Although you never realised how much you enjoyed that stupid smile. Those white buckteeth sticking out of that disgustingly warm smile. It makes your skin crawl a little, although you are not sure if this is good or bad.

“Well, we’re here karkat! let’s get in so I can make you something kay?” John smiles at you with a bubbly expression and you think your bloodpusher just skipped a beat… Weird. Not like his stupid face is actually something that was ever able to make you swoon. In fact, you never notice how infatuated you can be when it comes to this stupid human boy’s face.

“Yeah okay, whatever. Let’s just get in already.” You push open the doors and decide to sit right on the counter as John walks behind it and goes into the kitchen. John comes back in after a couple minutes with his work clothes. He had an apron with a little yellow and purple moon insignia on it.  
John hums gently as he starts making a drink, although you didn’t order anything.

“Uh hey shithead, you're supposed to ask me what I want remember?”

John looks at you and giggles gently, oh holy shit John still giggles. John doesn’t say anything until he’s finished. He places a cup in front of you and smiles triumphantly. “Okay what the fuck is it and why are you not answering my question?”

“One medium strawberries and cream frappuccino with two shots of caffeine made with vanilla flavored soy milk, extra whipped cream, with a caramel drizzle, for the grumpy and impatient troll.”

You blink at John a bit thinking How the fuck did he remember what you ordered the other day? You don’t even remember exactly what you ordered.

“How the fuck did you just do that?”

“Heh, it’s not that hard to remember karkat, besides you really liked it and I thought you might have wanted it again!” John smiles as he cleans the utensils and complicated machinery behind the counters. His hands worked on the machinery very carefully as if he had done it a million times. It was obvious that John has worked here for most of the time you were away.

  
You blush slightly at the other’s response, of course, you don’t notice it as you are currently sipping the best fucking sugary and caffeinated beverage you ever had. You sigh with relief after taking a sip.

“You know, I think I’m definitely gonna be coming here more often now…” At this point you have a realization. The fucking idiot forgot to charge you. You can’t believe that John has been working here for so long and would forget such a simple thing as charging a fucking customer.

“Hey Egbert, how much supposed to pay you?” You raise your eyebrows at John as you take out your wallet. You hope he still has the amount you owe him ringed up on the cash register.

John looks at you and shakes his head, “Oh no, Karkat, it’s fine. You don’t have to pay.” You couldn’t help but be a little bit more than annoyed at John. You are not going to allow John to fucking pay for something like this. John doesn’t deserve to take money from his paycheck for your drink.

You frown a little and take out a ten dollar bill. You are determined to give this jackass the money he deserves.

“Give me the fucking price of my drink, you shitfaced walnut.” Smooth Karkat, you just called John a fucking walnut. What type of insult is that supposed to be?

John just decides to fucking shake his head, that just pisses you off. “nope.”

“John you moronic asswipe, give me the price, I’m not letting you pay for my drink god damn it!”

“Sorry Karkat, you have no choice this time!” John grins at you as you give him a glare. Oh you fucking know this means war.

“alright then, next time I'm paying for myself. And if you even fucking try to cover my drink next time, I’m going to tell Harley that you’re wasting your money on me when I am constantly trying to pay for myself! So I’m paying for myself next time you two faced shithole.” As if Jade would be able to tell John how to spend his money.

“Okay okay fine Karkat! just calm down, I’ll let you pay next time.”

“Good.”

You say, knowing that probably is not gonna happen since John just loves to be a giant nauseating pile of warm mushy goo and practically giving his money away to everyone else and not spending a single dime on himself like some foolish Robin Hood. It disgusts you that he’s just so selfless and cares little about himself. He SHOULD try and give himself a treat once in awhile instead of buying stuff for his friends and loved ones. Fuck, you can only imagine how pampered he would make his matesprit feel… Wait, does he even have a matesprit? Holy fuck you never even asked if your best friend has a matesprit yet! how the fuck are you considered a good friend?

You begin to think more about whether John has a matesprit, and for some reason, it kinda pisses you off. Your blood slowly begins to boil as soon as you think about some shitty bitch of a troll or human female just thinking they deserve to be with John, what the fuck would they even know about him?! Would Strider have tried to see if they were a good match for Egbert? What the fuck does Strider even know about relationships?! Absolutely nothing in comparison to you! You don't want some cold hearted bitch to take advantage of John because of his huge amount of kindness and selflessness right? Fuck no, you don’t want John to be with anyone but… You decide to not think like that anymore because that is definitely not the way you want to think about John! You strictly think that John has to have some type of person he cares for right? Maybe he’s just hiding the fact he has a matesprit from you? You decide to finally stop thinking about it like that.

You blush impossibly more as you sip at your frappucino. God this was actually really fucking good.

“Karkat? Hello~ earth to Karkat.”

“Hm? What the fuck do you want Egbert? Can’t you see me trying to enjoy a not at all shitty drink?”

“Heh, you really like it huh?”

“Yeah I do, Egbert, so shut up.” You idly drink more from your extremely sugary and sweet drink while rolling your eyes. You admit to yourself that John is good, maybe even great, as a barista.

“So anyways, there is the new avengers movie coming out soon! We should totally go with everyone hm?” John said as he served out three drinks to some human girls who were all giggly and shit as he smiles at them. You see john smiling and thanking them when they leave him a tip in the jar. You really hate the sound the girls make for the fact that they just make their giggling louder than they need to make it.

You notice how one of the girls is totally checking John out, you cringe a little on the inside for no reason, it is definitely not that you’re jealous or anything. Because you know for a fact that she is not really John’s type. Well now that you think about it, you can’t really think about what John’s type is exactly. John is a huge fucking dork that is nice to everyone and he is not like Strider, who used to voice his thoughts and what people were his types anytime the subject came up. Figuring out John’s type isn’t as easy as it would be for anyone else really. John is sweet, like extremely sweet and caring, strong, he has his moments with his idiotic humor that even you can’t help chuckle a little sometimes. Come to think about it, John could be practically anyone’s type, maybe even yours? hah, that was an obvious joke since you know for a fact that you kinda hated this guy for a while, but then again he has changed a bit from when you first knew him. You get distracted by what happens next.

You notice the girl is starting to flirt with John and you instantly try to tune into the conversation, it's not that bad to listen to people talking to each other in a public place right?

“So what’s your number cutie? Or do you want mine?” The girl smiles and bats her stupid eyelashes as she looks at John, leaning her elbow on the counter in front of the register. You can’t believe she is using stupid clichés on John. This pisses you off slightly and you get really close to cutting the conversation short.

“uh, heh n-no thanks but, thank you for the offer m’am. I’m working now and can you please move from the line? There are other customers who need to make orders.” John rubs the back of his neck as he sheepishly smiles like an idiot.

The girl gives him a look that makes you want to punch her in the fucking face for just being a bitchy person. She ends up sighing and walking to the table where her friends were sitting. They obviously start talking about how rude John is as they walk out… Those mischievous fucking shit eating whores think they can get away with this?!

John looks kind of uncomfortable and a bit... Well the expression was not entirely happy at all so you decide to try and change the tone by speaking up and responding to John’s question.

You clear throat and nod, smirking softly. “So about the avengers movie... fuck yeah we have to see that movie. I’m not letting you pay for everything though so you better put your fucking wallet away when I get my ticket or i’m shoving peanuts down every orifice of yours.” Your threats are almost always hollow, especially towards your friends. You would never really want to hurt your friends unless they deserve it.

John smiles wide when a coworker walks in.

“Hey Jake! You’re late, I had to cover the register for you.”  
Jake smiled at John and chuckled a little, his cheeks going a bit pink while he rubbed the back of his neck. you swear this guy looks way too much like Egbert sometimes.

John and Jake hug each other briefly before John take his position at the machines for making coffee. Jake and John make a good team when you look at how they work together. Jake would get orders and John would make them with ease, not even having to look at the receipts twice. John would look around and call off the name of the order and give it to the customer and go right back to work on the next order. You are surprised with how quick john fills the orders and how flawlessly he works the machine. You wonder how long john has worked at the café now that you think about it, you couldn’t help but admire how well of a barista john was, and how he just seemed to know the machines he worked with as if they were a part of his own body.  
You decide to take out your books and your husktop and start working on your homework a bit, only to take little glances at John who was busy working. you don’t think you have seen John work this much and get into it as much as he was right now.

After an hour, John takes his break and walks over to you. John sits next to you and smiles apologetically.

“sorry about that, I have to work on days like this, I hope you don’t mind karkat. You can go if you want, you know. I don’t want you to feel like you’re being held up here against your will.”

You couldn’t help but smirk slightly at John’s statement. It was nice that he cares so much, it was always something you liked about him after all.

“You do realize I have no reason to go home, plus my cable isn’t fully set up so it’ll just be me not being able to do my homework, besides its interesting to see you actually showing some work ethic into your pathetic daily routines Egbert. It doesn’t even fucking matter, you’re almost done anyways right?”  
John rubs the back of his neck and you chuckle a little at his action.

“well yeah but that’s like another hour and a half I think…”

“Holy deep fried shit on a stick John! I can fucking wait okay? I’m perfectly fine drinking my sugary drink and working on homework in this café for a while more. I can do this at least today when I don’t have a shit ton of homework to do. stop worrying about it for one second and just feel satisfied about you being awarded with my presence.”

John snickers and smiles at you softly, a tiny blush rising on your cheeks. Ugh, you hate it whenever he does that stupid bucktoothed, adorable, and warm grin. You roll your eyes at John before he began to speak again.

“You know, I missed your little grumpy ranting and all, karkat. It’s nice to hear you talk again. I just don’t want to hold you back from talking to anyone else you know?”

You blink and feel a little bit more heat rise in your cheeks before you resist getting worked up over some stupid compliment on something that people usually tease you about or get annoyed at you for. You huff and nod gently as a response before you close your eyes and sip from the straw of your drink. After you take the sweet sip that you needed you clear your throat and sigh.

“You care way too much about other people John. Maybe more than I do, and that’s saying something.”

John couldn’t help but do that ridiculous giggle and you just sit there being showered by his stupidly large amount of happiness. It honestly annoys you how much this kid can really smile. Then again, it really is a nice way to relax with John because of how much he can lighten up a mood.

“You don’t get it Karkat! I’m not saying anything like that! I’m saying that I don’t want you to feel like I’m holding you back here. You could just go back home without me and leave to go do your homework and shit.”  
You look at John angrily and roll your eyes after a little. He did have a point, you shouldn’t really wait up for John but then again it just feels better to stay here for a little more and just wait to leave with the huge dork. You and John do have a lot of catching up to do after all. You ultimately decide to leave for now because you need to work and Egbert is being a huge distraction to your work ethic.

“I don’t have to do anything but work, but I do wanna work on some stuff back at my hive. So, I will see you tomorrow I guess.” You stand up and try to wave a goodbye to John. Yeah, no, Egbert apparently wants to assault you with one of his ultra warm and comforting goodbye hugs. You grunt a good bye as he says goodbye and turns away to make more orders. You spot a neat little jar next to the cashier register labeled “TIPS :)” and you take out the $10 and toss it into the jar right when John wasn’t looking. You pack up your materials and walk out the café.  
You open up your phone and type a message:

CarcinoGeneticist CG began trolling TerminallyCapricious TC

CG: GAMZEE.

CG: ...

CG: I HAVE A PROBLEM.

CG: JOHN MAKES REALLY GOOD COFFEE AND I THINK HE MIGHT HAVE A MATESPRIT ALREADY.

CG: I HAVE TO FIND OUT WHO IT IS.

carcinoGeneticist CG is now idle.

terminallyCapricious TC  began trolling carcinoGeneticist  CG

TC: HaHaHa…

TC: WaIt WhAt?

TC: KaRbRo?

TC: ...

terminallyCapricious  TC ceased trolling carcinoGeneticist CG

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually want to work more on this but since college life is killing me it will be a very slow and tedious process. Thanks for reading this. I know there must be at least 1 person who wants this update to happen and wants to see this fic go on for a while so I actually want to make sure I can finish this fic. BUT on another note, I am also preparing another fanfiction and probably others that I will try to work on as much as I can. This fanfiction might not go towards where I originally planned but hey ill try to make it work as much as possible. (also I can't make chapters too long anymore because at some point i run out of fluff for a singular chapter so sorry if this chapter isn't that long as the others)


End file.
